Laura A. Brown

Brown was born Laura Penn on November 8, 1874, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She married George Brown at a young age. They lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and had one daughter.^[1]

Brown was an active member of the Pennsylvania Federation of Colored Women's Clubs and her church choir.^[1]

During World War I, Brown led a war savings stamp campaign that allowed individual citizens to help fund the U.S. war effort.^[2] Later, during Warren G. Harding's presidential campaign, Brown became a member of the executive board of the Republican Women's Committee of Allegheny County and the Republican Council of Women of the City-County Federation of Allegheny.^[1][2]

In 1922, Brown became the first African-American to run for state legislature in Pennsylvania as a candidate for the First District in Allegheny County. She did not win election.^[2]